Is Facebook’s Libra a Real Blockchain? No.
Tuesday morning, Facebook revealed plans for its new cryptocurrency, Libra, that is actively backed by tech giants like Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, eBay, Lyft and Uber.
Wall Street analysts exalted that Libra, also the name of Ancient Rome’s pioneering currency,...
Facebook Will Square Off Against Amazon, Apple in the Race Towards Digital Banking Supremacy
This week, Facebook joined Amazon, Apple and other big tech names as the race to implement a truly global digital currency and win over the unbanked population is heating up. Facebook’s success -- or dominance in the crypto space -- is far...
Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency May Spark Financial Revolution In the Developing World
The stars are aligning for crypto to go mainstream as Facebook has announced the launch of Libra, a new digital currency that could revolutionise the way payments work -- and have a huge impact on the developing world in the process.
After a Series of Disasters, Facebook Wants to Make Things Right with Its Big Crypto Project
Following a series of privacy and misinformation scandals and increasing regulatory probes, Facebook is keen to improve its image as a force for good.
Facebook will leverage its unparalleled global network of 2.4 billion users to deploy a...
Blockchain Finance Uses SMS Texts to Help African Farmers
Global brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev has a new way to ensure that the African farmers who grow cassava for its burgeoning business in locally brewed beer get a fair price and deliver a reliable supply of the root, which replaces expensive imported barley...
Morgan Stanley Pushes for Progress in Social Impact Investing
Morgan Stanley doesn’t want to be left behind, as socially responsible investing is gaining momentum in the United States and beyond.
Morgan Stanley is offering customers a handful of impact investing options as demand soars for opportunities that...
Joseph Lubin: Blockchain’s Social Impact Goes Way Beyond Finances
Blockchain not only opens doors for people who don’t have access to banks, it can help improve the environment, healthcare and trust in the media, said Joseph Lubin, CEO of ConsenSys, at the Blockchain For Social Impact Conference in New York.
VC Firm Ulu Ventures Connects Diversity to Profitability
VC firms may vow to support diversity, but the numbers don’t bear that out.
Only about 9% of venture capital flowed into companies that women entrepreneurs run; a minuscule 1% and 2%, respectively, to those of black and Hispanic...
Bank ‘with a Conscience’ Bets on Socially Responsible Consumers
Sound Businesses: Profiles of companies and business models we are keeping an eye on.
Andrei Cherny is not your typical banker.
He had written speeches for President Bill Clinton, helped Elizabeth Warren launch the fight for what became the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, advised Bank of...
Meet the Startup Aiming to Outsmart the Big Guys and Insure the Unbanked
Sound Businesses: Profiles of companies and business models we are keeping an eye on.
Over the past decade, mobile phone technology has provided access to banking services like credit, payments and wealth management to tens of millions in poor areas of Asia, Latin America and...
With Its New Blockchain Company, Facebook May Succeed In Connecting Billions of Unbanked Users
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to, for their impact on industry.
Earlier this month, Facebook quietly set up a company in Switzerland, according to a Reuters report. If the social media’s foray into Blockchain payment succeeds, analysts say it might have a massive...
Why France’s Biggest Venture Firm Is Bullish on Africa
Strategic Investors: Profiles of investors with strategies to consider.
Partech, one of France’s oldest and Europe’s biggest VC firms, didn’t want to miss the boat on Africa’s vast opportunities in the tech space.
So even as other investors became skittish about Africa, Partech launched its first...
Goldman’s ‘Impact Chess’ Strategies Help Investors Gain Edge
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to, for their impact on industry.
When Goldman Sachs in 2015 approached John Goldstein with an unsolicited bid for his impact advisory firm, he took it as a sign that sustainable investing, once a niche industry, could...
David Solomon: “How do you balance the scales fairly between businesses and communities?”
Sound Businesses: Profiles of companies and business models we are keeping an eye on.
The lack of financial infrastructure in some of the world’s poorest regions — sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East — is a...
Stephanie Campbell: “If we create more successful female founders…they will reach back and help bring up more female founders.”
Strategic Investors: Profiles of investors with strategies to consider.
Too little of the money flowing from the male-dominated world of venture capital flows to the women who found some of the world’s most innovative companies. That much is well established. One reason? Less than 10%...
Jeff Stewart on the Emerging Markets: “There’s certainly a tremendous need for greater financial literacy”
Sound Businesses: Profiles of companies and business models we are keeping an eye on.
With apologies to London and regrets to Wall Street, one of the most important developments in finance of the past decade is the product of innovation in the Emerging Markets, not...
Mastercard Picks Up New POS Tech With Vyze Acquisition
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to, for their impact on industry.
Mastercard acquired Vyze, a technology platform that enables customers to tap into numerous credit options at checkout, to gain a foothold in the growing point-of-sale financing industry.
With the purchase, Mastercard becomes a strategic...
The Promise and Risk of Bank-Backed Digital Coins
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to, for their impact on industry.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFJ), Japan’s largest bank, will roll out its digital token by the end of 2019, following JP Morgan Chase, the first major U.S. bank launching digital coin....
Latest Funding Aims to Make Cryptocurrencies Simpler to Use
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
Cryptocurrency firms raised $850 million in 13 separate venture-capital deals involving corporate funding as of April 8 this year, with investments focusing on companies that are making digital currency payments more...
Who Can Solve a Problem Like Digital ID Fraud?
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
There are hundreds of fintech offerings that are aiming to solve different challenges, from how consumers save money to how employers reimburse workers. But this latest wave of fintech revolution is also trying to...
Cryptocurrency Startup ConsenSys is Said to Seek Outside Cash
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
Ethereum giant ConsenSys is said to be seeking outside funding after a massive restructuring that included the layoff of 13% of its staff last year. The Brooklyn-based company has been speaking...
Salary Finance Announces New U.S. CEO and $32.8M in Funding
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
Boston-based fintech startup Salary Finance has raised $32.8 million and appointed a new leader for its U.S. operations, as it seeks to expand lending services both in the U.S. and the...
Mastercard Backs AI Startup AIDA
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
AIDA Technologies, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup, raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series A round from Mastercard, Kuok Ventures, and SGInnovate to expand in current markets and in...
Why Bain Capital Ventures Backed Robot Ventures to “Reinvent Finance”
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
Robot Ventures is just the latest blockchain investment by Bain Capital Ventures, which has about $3.6 billion of assets under management.
BCV and Ripple’s developer ecosystem initiative Xpring, along with unnamed “fintech-obsessed angel...
Network Security Startup Expanse Raises $70 Million Led by TPG Growth
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
Expanse, a cybersecurity firm founded by a former CIA tech expert, raised $70 million in a Series C funding led by TPG Growth. The company plans to apply the funds to...
Extend Raises $11M to Supply Gig Workers With Virtual Credit Cards
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
Extend, the virtual credit-card platform focused on participants of the gig economy, has raised $11 million to expand its service, add clients and make new hires.
The Series A funding round announced on April...
China Moves to Ban Crypto Mining Farms
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
China is yet again trying to curb the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies, this time in the form of a proposed ban on mining farms.
These facilities full of servers validate transactions in...
Facebook Said to Seek Outside Funding for Crypto Project
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
For the first time in its history, Facebook is reportedly on the hunt for outside funding.
The New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper dropped the news on Twitter April 8, saying that the company is...
Artificial Intelligence Lending Startup Upstart Network Raises $50M, Partners with Banks
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
Upstart Network, an artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform founded by ex-Googlers, has raised $50 million in equity funding.
Progressive Investment Company, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and First National Bank of Omaha...
BlackRock Zeroes In on China
On Our Radar: Deals we are paying attention to for their impact on industry.
The burgeoning offerings of the world’s second-largest economy, China, are irresistible to the largest asset manager, BlackRock.
The firm’s CEO, Larry Fink, said it is working with Chinese regulators to take over...
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